Streets of Rage 4: a home arcade

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Highlighted by Double Dragon, the beat'em-up gave us dozens of unforgettable titles, among which is a Streets of Rage that has reached its fourth installment in the middle of 2020. On paper it might seem like a bad idea: we are in a new world in which there is not always space to do things like a few decades ago. Nostalgia and a visual aspect that plays with it while offering brush strokes of the present give rise to a spectacular title.

The genre melted down not a few weekly payments and made it possible for almost anyone who had a 100 pesetas coin in their hands to know what they would find in one if they put it in one of these machines. Some guys with a desire to fight were waiting for us to insert it to enter an alley -because, indeed, the first level should always pass on the street- to look for problems and find them in the ribs of a gullible punk. This was Streets of Rage and this is Streets of Rage 4.

The game has a simple story and full of commonplaces , but one would dare say that ironically. Anyone who plays a title like this, just like someone who does a John Wick marathon - or, to keep the retro theme, of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill - has no interest in the dichotomies that torture the characters or in a elaborate plot.

Thus, the script is little more than a common thread and the conversations, a nuisance that must be endured between punches and punches. The melody is carried by the hosts and the words are a superfluous interlude at the end of each level: circulate, nothing has happened here, for more blowers.

This fits in with the character design, which also draws from its past and features heroes and villains who have muscles in places where you and I have no place . They are exaggerated, Herculean and Apollonian; a collection of topics, biceps and glutes that wanders around the screen like a wasp with its black and yellow stripes for a barbecue: I am dangerous and I am looking for a fight.

Honestly, another formula would not have worked on a Streets of Rage. Games like Cuphead have already shown that there is room for innovation in the industry and that any design fits if it is good enough, however much it takes us to other times. But this title is what it is and if we are going to fight with a kind of whip dominatrix next to the rudder of a ship or with a moderately corrupt policeman capable of lifting us up like a sack of potatoes, the casting must accompany.

All of this goes in precious harmony. It is a game from yesterday that has arrived intact and at the same time redesigned to 2020. Sometimes it seems to come out of a poorly lit tube screen at the bottom of a bar and sometimes it is like having it in front of a phone with a resolution and a number of pixels per inch only less than the amount of euros we paid for it.

Each game is like taking the old R5 with which my grandfather used to pick me up from school , putting a new motor in it, improving the transmission and even adding electric windows, but keeping the original upholstery and design: you can cover more than 23 kilometers without ending up in the scrapping while preserving the smell of leatherette and tastes like Kinder egg because you have behaved well in class.

When it comes to gameplay, it also walks the line between the two decades. Without many complications - I remember a time when we managed with a stick and three or four buttons - there is an important variety of movements that run smoothly and accurately. And beware, this is key: it is useless to hit the ditto button if what we want is, like Madrid, to pass the phase. Jumps, special hits, keys and punches at the exact moment to counter an enemy attack are key.

Each character has its characteristics, its style and its special movements. As you progress through the game , new fighters are unlocked (up to 17) that allow you to complete a cast that begins, like any self-respecting gang, with four members. From the classic stereotypes of the genre - the uncle maces, the uncle still more maces, the fast girl and the woman made of curves with an impossible suit - we move on to a complete template, more diverse and that even allows pixelated winks to the previous installments .

The cooperative (up to four players), the extra modes and the hours required to master each of the protagonists increase the hours of enjoyment and grant a replayability that if it never hurts, in times of confinement it is even more appreciated. And, unlike recreational games, it doesn't cost a euro each game. Better, because they will be many.

Streets of Rage 4 is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (part of Game Pass), and Steam.

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